Week 3: Kernow here we come!
- Sep 20, 2021
- 7 min read
Our stops this week were:
Centry Road Camping in Brixham for 2 nights
Steamer Quay in Totnes for 1 night
Valley View Farm in Tavistock for 2 nights
Looe Club site for 1 night
Fenwick Trout Fishery near Bodmin for 2 nights
After a couple of great days in Slapton enjoying the beach and stunning nature reserve it was time to move on... next stop was Brixham, a really pretty harbour town just up the coast. The campsite wasn't the best... a bit too big and organised for us (we were only allowed to drive forwards on to our pitch... apparently for fire safety!?) but it was a great location, with a short walk into town and really close to the coast path, which we walked in both directions to Berry Head and St Mary's bay.
I spotted that both our front tyres had some small cuts along the side (I think it happened when we got stuck on some sharp gravel a while ago), so in Brixham we found a local tyre place to get them replaced... in the end we changed all four tyres for some nice chunky 'all season' mud and snow tyres, which should help us avoid getting stuck this winter... luckily I was planning to change them before the MOT next month anyway.
From Brixham we returned to Totnes for a night so we could catch the boat down the river to Dartmouth. It was probably the busiest place we've been since before the pandemic... the boat was rammed, although apparently there was room for another hundred passengers.
Just as the boat was about to set off a lady asked if she could take the empty seat across from us, so we said 'yes of course'... little did we know she was a crazy Spanish lady! First she asked for Yvette's bag, not really knowing what was going on or what she wanted, we agreed... she then left Yvette's bag on her seat to reserve her place before disappearing for 10 minutes (at this point the boat had left the dock). She eventually returned with a massive shopping trolley-bag which was passed along the row of seats, until it was in prime position next to her seat (secured by Yvette's bag). Finally we thought we could all settle down to enjoy the trip, when our new friend stood up, declared she had forgotten something and would be back... more shuffling along to let her out and she disappeared for another 5 minutes. This time she returned with a second large bag... which was lunch! After neatly tucking a tea-towel into her t-shirt collar, she started to tuck into a huge spread of very smelly meat and fish... Bear was sat on my lap at this point and did his very best to lean across the aisle to catch any crumbs... at least it took his mind off the boat trip for a bit.
Aside from having to translate the commentary (from English into English) and answer questions from our new best friend... (like do Seals bite people and; do the seagulls come from Spain?!)... the rest of the trip was really enjoyable. We saw loads of wildlife on the way, including a couple of seals hanging around waiting for the Salmon to swim past.
Dartmouth is a very pretty town but way to busy and crowded for us, so we decided to head out of town and took a walk along to Dartmouth Castle for an icecream.
We decided to leave the coast for a few days and headed inland, so we drove up to Dartmoor, first stop was Ivybridge so we could walk out on to the moors... it was a shortish walk but mainly up hill and plenty for Bear!
Our next campsite was near Tavistock... I hadn't expected much from Tavistock, it was just a random stop we picked on the map but it turned out really well.
We had our first proper rainy morning in Tavistock since we set off three weeks ago... so we had a lazy morning and didn't get up until 10ish. Yvette decided it was time for the van to have a 'proper' clean and I decided to have a go at baking Bear some biscuits. I usually bake Bear a batch of peanut butter biscuits every few weeks at home but this was the first time in the van. We don't have a proper oven but we have a great little thing called an Omina (thanks Mum and Bob!), which works like a doughnut shaped oven and sits on the hob. I'm still working out how to get the best results but for a first attempt it didn't go too badly... Bear even ate the slightly burnt biscuits without complaint!
The campsite in Tavistock was really quiet and peaceful (just a field on a farm with 5 or 6 caravans and camper vans), it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere but it was just a few minutes walk down a narrow country lane to the main road and the local Tesco, Morrisons and Lidl (great fun for a night out when you've not been to a big town for a while) plus it was only a half hour walk along the canal into the centre of Tavistock, which was full of interesting little shops and markets selling crafty things. We had some flapjack from Flapjackery (thanks for the recommendation Debbie) and Bear had some dog treats from the local pet shop.
From Tavistock it was finally time to cross the border into the "Jam first" county of Cornwall. We had a slightly strange route into Cornwall... via the cycle lane of the Tamar bridge, this wasn't a navigation error but due to road works on the main part of the bridge, luckily they had closed the lane to cyclists, or at least I think they had... I didn't see any!
Our first proper stop in Cornwall (after a petrol station in Saltash to top up the LPG - gas for cooking and hot water in the van) was Polperro... we arrived early in the day so it was fairly quiet when we arrived. It's a beautiful little fishing town and harbour but the tiny little streets soon fill up with day trippers, it must drive the locals nuts! There are signs on the way to the village encouraging visitors not to try and drive into the village but plenty of people seemed to ignore the signs.
After a quick one night stop in Looe, we headed off to Bodmin stopping at Lanhydrock House on the way for a walk and bike ride... Yvette chose the 'green' cycling route as it was described as a beginners route... what she didn't mention was that it was a beginners mountain bike trail... Bear didn't seem to mind even when it got a bit rough!
This is the first time we've posted a video on the blog, fingers crossed it works ok! (Sorry for not wearing helmets… it was a dedicated cycle trail and no other traffic… we always wear helmets on the road).
Unfortunately on the way out of Looe we met a Landrover in the middle of the road (it was definitely on our side of the road...), luckily we only clipped wing mirrors but we lost the glass part of the little blind spot mirror. Thanks to Amazon a replacement part will be delivered to a locker at Morrisons in Bodmin tomorrow... all for less than a tenner!
We've now just parked up at our final campsite for this week... another small site with just 5 pitches... this time on the outskirts of Bodmin. If the weather holds tomorrow we're going to head back out on the bikes along the Camel Trail towards Padstow.
Finally last week Martin asked for some best and worst bits of motorhoming... before I answer this, I really want to add that I'm not complaining about any of the bad bits... the good bits far outweigh the bad but for balance here they are:
The good stuff...
The main one is the freedom, to choose where to go and how long to stay...
This is closely followed by waking up to a different view every few days. Sometimes the views aren't anything special but sometimes they are amazing.
We get to stay in some really unusual places and get to meet people we would never usually bump into... the last campsite had a couple travelling with a tortoise (sorry we didn't get a pic)!
We get to spend more time outdoors.
We get to do loads more exercise in the fresh air (Yvette is still doing her workout classes outside... not sure how long this will last in the winter).
We are more aware of things... like the weather and the resources that we use like water, gas and electricity.
We get to spend more time together and have none of the normal day to day distractions of home and work.
We have everything we need with us, like travelling with your home with you.
The bad stuff...
Emptying the toilet cassette... I won't go into any detail but it's not fun, luckily it only takes a few minutes and only needs doing once every few days.
We need to plan some things more carefully... cooking meals in a tiny kitchen takes some extra preparation and thought, washing our clothes means finding a laundrette or staying on a larger campsite, finding parking places in towns can be tricky (but easier thanks to google maps and street view).
Narrow roads... we've learned that a Devon "A" road doesn't mean it's a 'proper' main road, it doesn't even mean they've painted a white line down the middle, often they just grow grass down the middle!
Sometimes the camping spots are very uneven... this means our bed is at an angle and we spend half the night sliding down to one side of the van and then crawling back up again... it's exhausting!
Limited storage space... yes, we have more than a suitcase but it's much more limited than at home and needs some careful thought and packing, or you spend your whole time moving things around trying to find what you want.
It's not really been a problem so far (yet!) because we've been so lucky with the weather... but a muddy dog in the van is quite tricky. Yvette has a pretty good routine for hosing Bear down and drying him (but Bear doesn't always agree)... I'm sure you'll see more of this over the next few blogs!
As I've said, overall it's great and so worthwhile, the bad stuff isn't really bad stuff at all... just part of the whole experience.
Sorry this is such a long blog post this week... thanks for reading and if you've made it this far well done!
The bit about your sloping bed made me laugh! We’ve had camping experiences like that and it is absolutely exhausting!
I always talk about you when we talk about riding bikes at school! X
I used to live in Polperro... Don't remember it though, I was only 2 years old..🤣 but I have seen some cracking pics of me in red wellies in narrow lanes with a harbour view behind me. I've often thought I'd like to go and visit... I would definitely be a sign follower though and leave the car out of town...😇😉. It looks like you're having a great time...🙂. Kelson and I once met a combine harvester on a single track road between Cheddar and Wookey Hole...that was fun...! You guys will be like The Stig with your driving skills by the time you get back...x
Looks really great. Enjoy!
xx Annie
Brilliant post, the nifty map is really useful to see your adventures! Thanks for the best/worst of, I would never have anticipated the trials and tribulations of an uneven campsite! Looking forward to the next update 👍🏻 Martin